I'm finishing up a MA TESOL degree, and am planning to do an internship this Fall, or Spring 2013. (240 hours/about 3-4 months p/t). I am interested in finding an internship in the U.S., but am open to other countries if it is a possibility. I haven't had much of a response from the universities I've sent emails to so far, and am a little surprised at how difficult it is turning out to be just to find a school willing to work with an intern. (I guess I thought most places would jump at the chance for some p/t free labor).

Does anyone have experience, or know of universities/community colleges/institutes, that will work with an intern?

I'm not sure why your university isn't helping you set this up, but... Anyway, you're looking in all the wrong places. Check out your nearest non-profit, community ESL literacy or refugee program; they always need volunteer teaching assistants and in-class tutors. (I did my practice teaching at my local technical college and at an ESL literacy program.) Additionally, if you're a member of your state's TESOL affiliate, contact them for suggestions. They know everything about TESOL in your area. Mine was invaluable in helping me find one of the programs for my practicum. By the way, don't refer your practice teaching as an internship---it might give the impression you expect to be paid.

It sounds like you are not in the US at the moment. If this is the case, please remember that everyone and their son and daughter wants to be an ESL teacher.

Jobs are in public schools, and people working on MAs are generally in a program that has partnerships with local public schools and will set up a summer internship/practicuum.

The market is quite protected - so it is very hard doing this from the outside.

Is an internship a requirement of your degree? If not, I would just apply for jobs. Do you have a visa to work in the US?

There may be ways to get a paying job to work as an internship particularly if you go through a governmental organization such as JET in Japan.

Where are you anyways? What local resources are available to you? Can tutoring under the table (with pay) count as "volunteer" work for an internship? Or, does it need to be through a school or organization? Some universities such as the University of Waterloo in Canada have a literacy center with volunteer tutors (the caveat being you would also need to be a student there...

So you want to do the internship after you finish your MA? (Meaning that it's not for a practicum requirement?)

If it were a practicum, then I would wonder, as nomad soul did, why your university isn't helping to set something up, or at least give you leads. When I did my MA, several students in my cohort (me included) found short-term summer teaching jobs that we were able to apply to the practicum. I spent a month in China at a summer camp. Other people taught locally--but as far as I know, they were all paying jobs, not internships.

Why exactly are you hoping to find an internship? There is plenty of paid work out there. I haven't ever heard of ESL internship opportunities in American universities (and I work in one now).